The present study was carried out to examine a causal model of academic buoyancy based on family emotional climate, with the mediating role of academic self-efficacy, among gifted students in schools for exceptionally talented. The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population consisted of all gifted students in the first cycle of secondary education (grades 7 and 8) enrolled in schools for exceptionally talented in Isfahan during the second half of the 2022–2023 academic year. A sample of 340 students was selected using convenience sampling. The research instruments were the Academic Buoyancy Questionnaire (Dehghanizadeh & Hossein Chari, 2012), the Hillburn Family Emotional Climate Questionnaire (1964), and the Morgan–Jinks Student Efficacy Scale (1999). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in AMOS 23. The results indicated a favorable fit for the research model. Family emotional climate had both a direct, significant positive relationship with academic buoyancy (P < 0.05) and an indirect effect through the mediation of academic self-efficacy (P < 0.05). These results show that family emotional climate, both directly and indirectly through self-efficacy, helps explain academic buoyancy among gifted students. It is therefore recommended that, in order to increase academic buoyancy among gifted students, attention be given to strategies that foster a positive emotional climate within the family alongside efforts to increase academic self-efficacy in this group; empowering families and students, as well as holding extracurricular training sessions focused on these variables, is important in this regard.